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The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of IRC client programs. Please see the individual products pages for more information. This page is does not include everything and may not be current.
Basic general information about the notableclients: creator/company, license, etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development.
Client Primary developers Distribution model Software license User interface Programming language AdiIRC[1] Per Amundsen Freeware Proprietary GUI .NET Framework /C# Adium Thijs Alkemade Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI Objective-C and C Ambassador[2] Isengrim Free software MPL GUI[Note 1] JavaScript , XUL AmIRC Oliver Wagner, Nicolas Sallin, Costel Mincea Free software GNU General Public License GUI ? AndroIRC[3] Madalynn Freeware Proprietary GUI ? Bersirc [4] Jamie Frater, Nicholas Copeland Free software LGPL GUI C (Delphi originally)BitchX Colten Edwards Free software BSD TUI, GUI C ChatZilla James Ross, Robert Ginda, Samuel Sieb, Gijs Kruitbosch Free software MPL , GPL , LGPL tri-licenseGUI[Note 2] JavaScript , XUL Colloquy Timothy Hatcher, Kiji Roshi Free software Desktop: GPL Mobile: BSD GUI Objective-C ERC Alexander L. Belikoff, Sergey Berezin Free software GPL-3.0-or-later TUI, GUI Emacs Lisp GrumpyChat[5] Petr Bena Free software LGPL GUI C++ HexChat[6] Berke Viktor Free software GPL-2.0-or-later TUI, GUI C IceChat [7] [8] Paul Vanderzee Free software GPL GUI C# (Visual Basic until 2004)[9] Igloo[10] Jordan Koch Commercial Proprietary GUI Swift Instantbird Florian Quèze Free software GPL GUI C++ , JavaScript , CSS , XUL Irccloud[11] IRCCloud Ltd. Freemium Proprietary Web JavaScript frontend, Erlang backendircII Michael Sandrof Free software BSD TUI C Ircle Onno Tijdgat Commercial, 30-day trial Proprietary GUI C Irssi Timo Sirainen Free software GPL-2.0-or-later TUI C Kiwi Darren Whitlen Free software Apache-2.0 Web JavaScript frontend, Node.js backendKVIrc Szymon Stefanek Free software GPL GUI C++ Konversation KDE Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI C++ LeafChat[12] Samuel Marshall Free software GPL-3.0-or-later GUI Java LimeChat[13] [14] [15] Satoshi Nakagawa Free software GPL-2.0-only [16] GUI RubyCocoa (2007–2010)[15] [16] Objective-C (2010–)[17] Linkinus Conceited Software Commercial, 15-day trial Proprietary GUI Objective-C Mibbit Jimmy Moore Textual Adbar Proprietary Web JavaScript frontend,Java backendmIRC Khaled Mardam-Bey Shareware , 30-day trial[18] Proprietary GUI C /C++ [19] Monochrome[20] Peter Pawlowski Free software GPL-2.0-only GUI C# Nettalk Nicolas Kruse Free software Apache-2.0 GUI Visual Basic Pidgin Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI C PIRCH Northwest Computer Services Shareware Proprietary GUI Delphi PJIRC Philippe Detournay Free software GPL GUI Java Quassel Manuel Nickschas, Marcus Eggenberger, Alexander von Renteln Free software GPL-2.0-or-3.0 TUI[Note 3] , GUI[Note 4] C++ rcirc Ryan Yeske Free software GPL-3.0-or-later TUI Emacs Lisp Smuxi Mirco Bauer Free software GPL-2.0-or-later GUI, TUI, server[Note 4] C# Snak Kent Sorensen Commercial Proprietary GUI ? Thunderbird Mozilla Foundation Free software MPL-2.0 GUI C , C++ , JavaScript Tiny[21] Ömer Sinan Ağacan[22] Free software MIT TUI Rust Visual IRC Jesse McGrew Free software GPL GUI Delphi WeeChat Sebastien Helleu Free software GPL-3.0-or-later TUI, GUI[Note 5] C XiRCON Mark Hanson Free software Proprietary GUI Borland C++, scripted with Tcl Client Primary developers Distribution model Software license User interface Programming language
A brief overview of the release history.
First public release First stable release Latest stable release Client Date Version Date Version AdiIRC 2005 1.0 4.2 (29 March 2022) AmIRC 1995 Bersirc 1999 2.2.14 (August 12, 2005; 18 years ago (2005-08-12 ) ) [±] BitchX 1996 1.2-final (January 1, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-01-01 ) ) [±] ChatZilla 2001 0.9.90.1 (July 7, 2013; 10 years ago (2013-07-07 ) ) [±] Colloquy 2005 2.4.3 (6011) (March 22, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-03-22 ) ) [±] degesch 2015 0.9 2015 0.9 DMDirc 2007 0.7 (January 5, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-01-05 ) [23] ) [±] ERC 1999? ERC improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±] F-IRC 2006? 0.1 1.36 (February 23, 2014) HexChat 2009-10-04 r249 2009-10-09 2.86.0 2.16.2[24] [25] (7 February 2024; 3 months ago (7 February 2024 ) ) [±] HydraIRC 2002 0.3.165 (December 12, 2008; 15 years ago (2008-12-12 ) ) [±] IceChat 2002 3.0 2002-04-08 3.0 9.21 (January 27, 2018; 6 years ago (2018-01-27 ) ) [±] ircII 1989 2.0.0 1989 2.0.0 20111115 (November 15, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-11-15 ) ) [±] IRCjr 2008 2008 mTCP_2013-04-26 (April 26, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-04-26 ) [26] ) [±] Ircle 1995 3.5a6 (November 17, 2007; 16 years ago (2007-11-17 ) ) [±] Irssi 1999 0.8.15 (April 3, 2010; 14 years ago (2010-04-03 ) ) [±] jIRCii ? ? ? kirc 2020 0.0.1 KVIrc 1998 0.6.0 1999-12-21 1.0.0 4.2.0 (July 3, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-07-03 ) [27] ) [±] Konversation 2002 1.9.23083[28] 9 November 2023; 20 October 2023; Error: first parameter cannot be parsed as a date or time. (9 November 2023; 20 October 2023 ) LeafChat ? 1.0 2.5 (July 29, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-07-29 ) ) [±] LimeChat 2007 Mac OS X Mountain Lion / Lion2.32 (July 30, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-07-30 ) ) [±]
Mac OS X Snow Leopard 2.30 (January 20, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-01-20 ) ) [±]
Linkinus 2007 2.4 (August 23, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-08-23 ) [29] ) [±] Mibbit 2008 web application , no versionmIRC 1995 7.32 (May 23, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-05-23 ) [30] ) [±] Nettalk 2004 6.7.16 (October 30, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-10-30 ) [31] ) [±] PIRCH 1995 1.0.1.1190 (December 31, 2000; 23 years ago (2000-12-31 ) ) [±] PJIRC 2002 2.2.1 (November 29, 2004; 19 years ago (2004-11-29 ) ) [±] Quassel 2008-08-27 0.3.0 0.12.4 (May 17, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-05-17 ) ) [±] qwebirc 2009 0.81 0.92 (February 13, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-02-13 ) ) [±] rIRC 2010 Preview Release 1 2012 1.44 1.4.4 (January 16, 2012) Scrollback 2013 2013 rcirc ? ? rcirc improvements are now released as part of Emacs. [±] Smuxi 2008-07-29 0.6 2010-09-03 0.8 0.8.11 (May 22, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-05-22 ) ) [±] Snak 1997 5.3.4 (March 11, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-03-11 ) [32] ) [±] Visual IRC 1995 2.0pl2 (200/187) (July 15, 2007; 16 years ago (2007-07-15 ) ) [±] WeeChat 2003 0.3.8 (June 3, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-06-03 ) [33] ) [±] Client Date Version Date Version Latest stable release First public release First stable release
The operating systems on which the clients can run natively (without emulation).
Client Windows 7 , Vista XP , 2000 NT 4.0 NT 3.x Me , 98 95 3.1x ReactOS macOS (Intel/PPC)OS 9 OS 8 System 7 (PPC/68k) BeOS , Haiku OS/2 , eCS, ArcaOSAmigaOS (68k) AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) DOS AmIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No Bersirc Yes Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? No No No No No No No No BitchX Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] No Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] No ? Yes No No No ? Yes Yes Yes No ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No Colloquy No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No degesch No No No No No No No No ? No No No No No No No No ERC Yes Yes ? No ? ? No ? Yes No No No No No ? ? ? HexChat Yes Dropped (2.9.5) No No No No No No No No No No ? No No No No HydraIRC Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No IceChat Yes Dropped (9.50) No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ircII Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] No Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] No ? Yes No No No No No No ? No IRCjr No Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 2] No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Ircle No No No No No No No No Yes[Note 3] Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Irssi Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ? Yes No No No Yes Yes ? Yes No jIRCii Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes No KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Konversation Partial Partial Partial No Partial Partial No ? Partial No No No No No No No No KVIrc Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes[37] Yes Yes No No No Yes[38] No No No LeafChat Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No LimeChat No No No No No No No No Yes[Note 4] No No No No No No No No Linkinus No No No No No No No No Yes[Note 3] No No No No No No No No Mibbit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No mIRC Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Partial ? No No No No No No No No No Nettalk Yes Yes ? No Partial[Note 5] No No ? No No No No No No No No No PIRCH Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? No No No No No No No No No PJIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No Quassel Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No No qwebirc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No rIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No No No No No No No No No rcirc Yes Yes ? ? No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No Scrollback Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Smuxi Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No Snak No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes ? No No No No No Visual IRC Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ? No No No No No No No No No WeeChat Partial[Note 1] Partial[Note 1] Partial[Note 1] No Partial[Note 1] Partial[Note 1] No ? Yes No No No Partial No No No No Client Windows 7, Vista XP, 2000 NT 4.0 NT 3.x Me, 98 95 3.1x ReactOS OS X (Intel/PPC) OS 9 OS 8 System 7 (PPC/68k) BeOS, Haiku OS/2, eCS AmigaOS (68k) AmigaOS 4, MorphOS (PPC) DOS
Unix and Unix-like operating systems:
Unix (BSD ): 386BSD, BSD/OS, FreeBSD , NetBSD , OpenBSD , SunOS , ULTRIX Unix (System V): AIX, A/UX, HP-UX, IRIX, SCO OpenServer, Solaris , UnixWare Unix-like: Linux , NeXTSTEP , OpenVMS [source? ] , OSF/1, QNX , Tru64 UNIX Client 386BSD BSD/OS (BSD/386, BSDI) FreeBSD , NetBSD , OpenBSD SunOS ULTRIX AIX A/UX HP-UX IRIX SCO OpenServer Solaris UnixWare Linux NeXTSTEP OpenVMS OSF/1 QNX Tru64 UNIX Bersirc ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? No ? ? ? BitchX ? Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] ? Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] ? Yes[Note 1] Yes Yes[Note 1] Yes ? Yes[Note 1] Yes[Note 1] ? ChatZilla No No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Colloquy No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No degesch ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? DMDIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ERC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes HexChat ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes HydraIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No IceChat No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ircII Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes IRCjr No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Ircle No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Konversation ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes KVIrc ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? LeafChat No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No LimeChat No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Linkinus No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Mibbit ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes mIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Nettalk No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No PIRCH No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No PJIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Quassel ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? qwebirc ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes rcirc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Smuxi ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Snak No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Visual IRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No WeeChat ? ? Yes[Note 2] ? ? ? ? Yes Partial[Note 3] ? Yes[Note 2] ? Yes ? ? ? Yes[Note 2] ? Client 386BSD BSD/OS (BSD/386, BSDI) FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD SunOS ULTRIX AIX A/UX HP-UX IRIX SCO OpenServer Solaris UnixWare Linux NeXTSTEP OpenVMS OSF/1 QNX Tru64 UNIX
What IRC related protocols and standards are supported by each client.
Client IPv6 SSL TLS DANE OCSP CRL SASL OTR Bersirc No No ? ? ? ? ? No BitchX Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes script No Colloquy Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No[41] degesch Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? No DMDirc Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No ERC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes[Note 1] No HexChat Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes[Note 2] HydraIRC ? No No ? No No ? No IceChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No ircII Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No IRCjr No No No ? No No No No Ircle ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? No Irssi Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes jIRCii Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No Konversation Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No KVIrc Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No LimeChat Yes Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No Linkinus No Yes ? ? ? ? No No Mibbit No Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No mIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No Nettalk No No ? ? ? ? ? No PIRCH No No ? ? ? ? ? No PJIRC No No ? ? ? ? ? No Quassel Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No[43] qwebirc No Yes No ? No No No No rcirc No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No Scrollback Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No Smuxi Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No[44] Snak Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? No Visual IRC No No ? ? ? ? ? No WeeChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes[45] [46] [Note 2] Client IPv6 SSL TLS DANE OCSP CRL SASL OTR
Direct Client-to-Client (DCC) support change source The Direct Client-to-Client Protocol (DCC) has been the primary method of establishing connections directly between IRC clients for a long time now. Once established, DCC connections bypass the IRC network and servers, allowing for all sorts of data to be transferred between clients including files and direct chat sessions.
Client CHAT SEND RESUME TSEND SEND T XMIT Passive DCC Server RDCC REVERSE RSEND Reverse / Firewall DCC File servers (FSERVs) XDCC VOICE Whiteboard Bersirc ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? BitchX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? No ChatZilla Yes Yes No[47] ? ? No No[Note 1] No No No No No No ? ? No Colloquy Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? degesch No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No DMDirc Yes Yes Yes ? ? No Yes No No No No Yes No No ? No ERC Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? HexChat Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? No HydraIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? No IceChat Yes Yes ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? No IRCCloud No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ircII Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No IRCjr No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ? No Ircle ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Irssi Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No KiwiIRC No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ? No Konversation Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 2] Yes[Note 3] No LimeChat ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Linkinus ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Mibbit No ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? mIRC Yes Yes Yes[Note 4] ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? Yes Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? Nettalk Yes Yes Yes No No No No Partial No No No No ? ? ? No PIRCH Yes Yes Yes[Note 4] ? ? No No No No No No No No No ? No PJIRC Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No Quassel No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ? No qwebirc No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ? No rcirc No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ? No Smuxi ? ? ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Snak Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Visual IRC ? ? Yes[Note 4] ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes[Note 3] Yes WeeChat Yes Yes ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? Client CHAT SEND RESUME TSEND SEND T XMIT Passive DCC Server RDCC REVERSE RSEND Reverse / Firewall DCC File servers (FSERVs) XDCC VOICE Whiteboard
This software is compliant natively; other software may be compliant with extensions.[1] [2]
Clients CAP CAP 302 Cap-notify Account-notify account-tag Away-notify batch Bot Mode chghost echo-message extended-join Invite-notify labeled-response message-tags Monitor msgid multi-prefix SASL v3.1 SASL v3.2 server-time setname sts userhost-in-names UTF8ONLY WHOX +typing draft/chathistory WebIRC draft/account-registration draft/extended-monitor draft/multiline +draft/react +draft/reply AdiIRC Yes 3.0+ 3.0+ Yes Yes Yes 3.0+ No Yes Yes Yes Yes 3.9+ 3.4+ Yes 3.4+ Yes Yes 3.0+ Yes 3.9+ 3.4+ Yes No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? Adium ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Ambassador Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? AndroIRC ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bersirc ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? BitchX Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? ChatSharp Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No No No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ChatZilla ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Colloquy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No Yes No No ? ? No No No No Communi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? CoreIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? No ? ? ? ? No No No No ERC ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? F-IRC ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Glirc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? Goguma Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes No No No GrumpyChat HexChat Yes Yes Yes Yes 2.16 Yes No No Yes No Yes 2.16 No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes 2.16 No Yes 2.16 Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? IRC for Android Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No ? No ? ? ? ? No No No No IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No No Yes Yes Yes Yes IRCjr ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? IceChat Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? Igloo ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Instantbird ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Ircle ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Irssi Yes Git Git Git No Git No No Git No Git Git No Git No No Yes Yes No No Git No No No Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? KVIrc Yes No No Git No Git No No Git No Git No No No No No Git Yes No Git No No Git No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? Kitteh IRC Client Library Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Kiwi IRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes ? Yes No ? No No No No No No Konversation Yes v20.11.80+ v21.03.80+ Yes No Yes No No v21.03.80+ No Yes No No No No No Yes Yes v21.04.0+ Yes No No Yes No Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? LeafChat ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? LimeChat Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No ? ? No No No No Linkinus ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Mibbit Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No ? No No ? No No No No No No Mobile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Monochrome ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Mozilla Thunderbird Yes 72.0+ 72.0+ No No No No No No 73.0+ No No No No Yes No Yes Yes 72.0+ 60.0+ No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? Net::Async::IRC Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? Nettalk ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? PIRC.pl web client Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes Yes ? No No No No No No PIRCH ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? PJIRC ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Palaver Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes draft cap draft cap Yes draft tag Yes Yes Yes Yes draft cap Yes Yes ? No ? ? ? ? No No Yes No Pidgin ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Quassel Yes Yes Yes Yes 0.14+ Yes No No Yes 0.14+ (opt in) Yes 0.14+ No 0.14+ No No Yes Yes Yes 0.14+ 0.14+ No Yes No Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? Quasseldroid Yes Yes Yes Yes 0.14+ core Yes No No Yes 0.14+ core (opt in) Yes 0.14+ core No 0.14+ core No No Yes Yes Yes 0.14+ core 0.14+ core No Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? No No No No Rust irc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? Smuxi ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Snak ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Srain Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? Swirc Yes No No Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? Textual Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No v7.1.1+ Yes No No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? The Lounge Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No ? Yes No No No No No Tiny ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Visual IRC ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Warren Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? WeeChat Yes 2.2+ Yes Yes No Yes No No 2.2+ No Yes 2.2+ No 3.3+ Yes No Yes Yes 3.3+ Yes 3.3+ No Yes No Yes 3.3+ No ? ? ? ? ? ? XiRCON ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? catgirl Yes No No No No No No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes TLS-only Yes No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ? gamja Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No ? Yes No ? No Yes Yes No No No girc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? No ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? irc-framework Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ircII ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ircrobots Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? kirc ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? mIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes 7.62+ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7.62+ Yes Yes No Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ? pydle Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No Yes ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? qwebirc ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? rcirc ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? senpai Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? tri-license ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? zIRC Yes 1.2.4+ 1.2.4+ No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes 1.2.4+ No No No No ? No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ?
IRC SASL authentication primarily uses the same mechanisms as SASL in other protocols. Most commonly:
Client EXTERNAL PLAIN SCRAM-SHA-256 AdiIRC Yes Yes 3.4+ Ambassador No No No BitchX No Yes No ChatSharp (lib.) No No No Colloquy No Yes No Colloquy No Yes No Communi(lib.) No Yes No CoreIRC Yes Yes Yes Glirc Yes Yes Yes Goguma No Yes No HexChat Yes Yes No IRC for Android No No No IRCCloud No Yes Yes IceChat No Yes No Irssi Yes Yes No KVIrc Yes Yes No Kitteh IRC Client Library(lib.) Yes Yes No Kiwi IRC No Yes No Konversation Yes Yes No LimeChat No Yes No LimeChat No Yes No Mibbit No Yes No Mozilla Thunderbird No Yes No Net::Async::IRC(lib.) No No No PIRC.pl web client No Yes No Palaver No Yes No Quassel Yes Yes No Quasseldroid No Yes No Rust irc(lib.) No Yes No Srain Yes Yes No Swirc No Yes Yes Textual Yes Yes No The Lounge Yes Yes No Warren(lib.) No Yes No WeeChat Yes Yes 3.2+ catgirl Yes Yes No gamja No Yes No girc(lib.) Yes Yes No irc-framework(lib.) No Yes No ircrobots(lib.) No Yes Yes mIRC Yes Yes 7.68+ pydle(lib.) No Yes No senpai No Yes No zIRC(lib.) Yes Yes No Client EXTERNAL PLAIN SCRAM-SHA-256
Information on what features each of the clients support.
Client Multi-server UTF-8 Proxy server irc:// URI scheme Automatic updates Scripting language Bersirc Yes No ? ? ? — BitchX Yes No ? ? ? Enhanced IrcII script ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes JavaScript Colloquy Yes Yes ? Yes Yes[Note 1] AppleScript , Cocoa, F-Script, JavaScript, Python degesch Yes Yes Yes — — Lua DMDirc Yes Partial ? Yes Yes Custom Actions system, Java plugins ERC Yes Yes Yes[Note 2] ? Yes[Note 3] Emacs Lisp HexChat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Perl , Python , Tcl , Lua [Note 4] , JavaScript , C , C++ , and via D-Bus.HydraIRC Yes Yes ? ? Yes No IceChat Yes Yes No Yes Yes VBScript ircII Yes Yes[Note 5] ? ? ? IrcII script IRCjr No No No No No — IRCCloud Yes Yes Yes Yes — JavaScript Ircle Yes No ? ? ? AppleScript Irssi Yes Yes Yes No No Perl jIRCii Yes Yes Yes ? No Sleep KiwiIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes — JavaScript , Node.js Konversation Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Shell script, Ruby , Python , Perl , Java , C++ , C# , JavaScript [Note 6] KVIrc Yes Yes Yes Yes No KVS (custom), Perl , Python , C++ LeafChat Yes Yes ? — Yes Java LimeChat Yes Yes ? ? ? — Linkinus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes AppleScript , CocoaMibbit Yes Yes ? Yes — — mIRC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 7] mIRC script Nettalk Yes Yes SOCKS Yes Yes VBScript, custom PIRCH Yes No ? ? No Yes PJIRC Yes Yes ? ? No Partial, JavaScript Quassel Yes Yes Yes ? No No qwebirc No Yes No Yes Yes No rcirc Yes Yes ? ? No Emacs Lisp Smuxi Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes (language agnostic) Snak Yes Yes ? ? ? AppleScript , IrcII scriptVisual IRC Yes No ? ? ? Versus WeeChat Yes Yes Yes Yes ? C , Perl , Python , Ruby , Lua , Tcl , Scheme (Guile)Client Multi-server UTF-8 Proxy server irc:// URI scheme Automatic updates Scripting language
Common terms Lists and comparisons Related protocols IRC · IRCX · MSN Chat · P10 · CTCP · DCC · XDCC · Ident
Related pages IRC subculture · Jarkko Oikarinen
Bouncers, Gateways and Proxies
Bip IRC Proxy · BitlBee
Networks
AbleNET
· Byxnet
· DALnet
· EFnet
· Freenode · GameSurge
· IRC@2ch
· IRCnet
· OFTC
· QuakeNet
· Rizon
· RusNet
· ScoutLink
· SlashNET
· Undernet